


“Lost” in Boston

by hoywfiction



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Choices: Stories You Play - Freeform, M/M, suggestive at a point but not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoywfiction/pseuds/hoywfiction
Summary: [Takes place during Open Heart, Book 1 Ch. 10 while MC & Dr. Ramsey are in Miami]Bryce gets “lost” and “just so happens” to end up on Rafael’s doorstep.Edits to come.
Relationships: Rafael Aveiro/Bryce Lahela
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	“Lost” in Boston

Excuses, excuses. Bryce had been bluffing his way through his entire life. He was sure something would come to mind once he got to the door... yet it didn’t. He found himself standing before Rafael’s deep brown eyes and for the first time in his life Bryce didn’t know what to say.

“Bryce. Hi.” Despite the clear confusion on his face Rafael gave a genuine grin.

“Hey!” Bryce turned on the megawatt smile. “So you remember me.”

“You’re hard to forget,” Rafael chuckled. He said it innocently enough but Bryce’s imagination ran wild with it anyway. “What brings you to this part of the city?”

“Right.” Still, nothing. “Um... I was lost?”

Rafael tilted his head to the side. After a moment he chuckled, using the door as a support as he slipped on some sneakers before stepping out onto the porch and closing it behind him. “Okay. You were lost,” he accepted playfully.

“I was hoping you could help me find my way around,” Bryce responded.

“Sure. You live near the hospital?”

“Not far.”

They walked back down the roads that Bryce had come from in anxious silence far too long for his liking. Mercifully, Rafael broke it. “So Bryce, I’ve heard a bit about you.”

His heart skipped. It always did when somebody said something along those lines because there were far too many ways the conversation could go from there. “Good things?” he beamed. No matter how he felt he had no reason to show it yet.

“You’re a hell of a surgeon,” Rafael praised. Bryce let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in. If Rafael heard the heavy exhale, he didn’t press the matter.

“That’s a high compliment, coming from you,” Bryce bantered.

“Why’s that? I’m not a doctor.” Rafael said it so curiously. Bryce had to wonder if he was truly so oblivious to advances or if he was playing hard to get.

“I don’t care about what doctors think of me, I know I’m the best.” Rafael chuckled at him.

“So whose opinions do you care for?” he asked. Bryce glanced sideways at him with a lifted brow and a wolfish grin. He made sure that Rafael was looking back at him before leaning in conspiratorially.

“The opinions of pretty men,” he said with a wink. Rafael’s smile grew brighter but he didn’t indulge Bryce beyond that. Instead he turned his gaze ahead and they continued walking.

“I’ve noticed something.” There was a coy undertone to Rafael’s voice.

“Oh you have?” Bryce asked. His arm brushed Rafael’s as they squeezed together to allow somebody to walk by them. It wasn’t lost on Bryce that Rafael stayed close even after the stranger passed them.

“You haven’t asked me for directions once,” Rafael said with— by God, he was smirking. Bryce felt his mouth go dry.

“Well.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe I wasn’t  _that_ lost.”

“I think you were lonely,” Rafael ventured with a glimmer in his eyes. Bryce met the mischievous glance as he ran a hand through his hair.

“If I was?” he teased. Rafael just shrugged, cool as ever.

“I couldn’t blame you.” He took in a long breath. “Boston’s such a big place. It’s easy to feel lonely here sometimes.”

They came to a crosswalk outside of Edenbrook. Cars whirred by, leaving the two of them facing one another on the sidewalk corner. Bryce folded his arms over his chest. “Do _you_ feel lonely?” 

“Sometimes,” Rafael responded with a chuckle. “Do you listen to what I say at all?”

“I do, I just get so distracted by the way you talk,” Bryce confessed.

“What do you mean?”

“It gets to me. In a good way.” The traffic changed and the bright walking signal clued Bryce in to the blush on Rafael’s cheeks. They crossed the street toward Bryce’s apartment in silence.

“Can I ask you something?” Rafael asked as they slowed their pace to something less brisk.

“If you dare.”

Rafael gave him a laugh for that one, dimples becoming more evident. “What’s going to happen when we get back to your place?”

“Easy. Dinner and a movie.” Bryce bumped Rafael’s shoulder with his own. Rafael bit his lip. It was briefly, but Bryce was very sure to take a mental picture of it. He motioned his arm toward a tall building just ahead of them. “This is us.”

“Us, huh?” Rafael returned the bump. “You’re bold, Lahela.”

“You like it.”

“You don’t know that.”

Bryce snickered as he unlocked the door and pulled it back to allow Rafael in. After several flights of stairs they were stepping into his apartment. “Welcome to my castle.”

Rafael was immediately fixated on the dining room table. It was set with a vase of roses and two aluminum foil-covered dishes as well as a bottle of chardonnay resting in a plastic container of ice. “Did you set this up for me?” he asked.

“Ah. You know.” Bryce shrugged. “I would’ve found someone else if I had to.”

He could tell by the way that Rafael was looking at him that he knew it was a lie. “You would’ve finished off this entire bottle of wine yourself.”

Bryce pretended to be offended. “How dare you know me so well already.”

The food was delicious, some kind of fluffy rice with all sorts of lovely additions Bryce would have never been able to think of on his own. Rafael caught on to the fact that it was from an Italian restaurant in the North End after the first bite, but he also said it was one of his favorite places and he gave a ton of other suggestions from their menu. By the time they were just about done with their meals and halfway through the white wine the two of them were talking in lively voices about superheroes.

“Maybe I never wanted to be Superman,” Rafael said over the lip of his glass.

“Too bad, it suits you.” Bryce smirked and leaned forward, his elbows propped up on the table and his fingers steepled. “Who would I be?”

Rafael finished off his second round of liquor. When Bryce gestured to offer him more he gave a sheepish smile and extended his glass by the stem for a refill. “Aquaman.”

“Is it because I’m Hawaiian?” Bryce chuckled after setting the wine bottle back on the table. “The Jason Momoa version at least, right?”

“Of course,” Rafael grinned. “It’s all in the hair.”

“I do have great hair.” With a wink Bryce excused himself from the table, wandering over to his TV. “Speaking of superheroes. You and I have a movie waiting for us.”

Rafael found his way over to the couch as Bryce got his streaming services running properly. Soon the title card of  _Captain America: The First Avenger_ was popping up on the screen and Bryce was settling down at Rafael’s side. “Because Chris Evans is from Boston?” Rafael asked with a fond smile.

“Exactly!” Bryce answered enthusiastically and hit play. He tossed his arm casually over the backrest of the sofa, even if his heart was hammering in his chest as he did so. They didn’t speak again for most of the movie. When they did it was initiated by Rafael yet again, who leaned his head onto Bryce’s shoulder with a sigh.

“You know, you could’ve just asked me on a date.” With a goofy grin Bryce pulled Rafael in closer and pressed his nose into his hair.

”With your schedule? You wouldn’t have said yes to me,” Bryce chided him. 

“You don’t know that!” Rafael repeated with more emphasis this time. After that, however, came the sigh. Bryce hated the sound of that sigh. “Speaking of my schedule...”

“Don’t,” Bryce whined. He felt Rafael’s muscles tense and a rush of adrenaline shot through him.

“I have to be at work early—“

“Edenbrook’s closer to here.” Bryce slid himself off the couch so he was sitting before Rafael on his knees. He found himself staring into the paramedic’s eyes, drinking in the way they seemed to darken. “So stay. We don’t have to do anything. Just stay.”

Rafael drew in a sharp inhale. Though Bryce refused to break eye contact with him he felt strong fingers weaving through the chocolate strands of hair around his ear. “But...” Rafael cleared his throat when his voice came out too husky (not that Bryce minded). “Can we, though? I-I mean would you want to...?”

Bryce felt a devilish expression overtake him as he placed a hand on each of Rafael’s knees and pushed himself up enough that their faces nearly touched. “Are you always this shy, pretty boy?” Bryce taunted. He answered Rafael’s question directly into his ear. “Yes. I want  _everything._ ”

Rafael’s breath stuttered. Next thing Bryce knew he was being backed toward the bedroom with Rafael’s lips on his own. Bryce was used to being the physically stronger person in these situations, so when Rafael lifted him off his feet to lie him out over the comforter, as if he weighed nothing, he couldn’t hold back the groan that escaped his throat. Rafael chased it, swallowing the noise in a hungry kiss.

Rafael retracted his head. “You’re sure you want this?”

Bryce gave a winded laugh and cupped a hand around the back of Rafael’s neck to pull him back in. “More than anything, Aveiro.”

The night that followed was one that Bryce would think about for months to come. Even more unforgettable still was the next morning. Normally when Bryce had someone over they were gone before he woke up. This time when he tried to get out of bed a strong arm pulled him back beneath the covers. Bryce smirked as he allowed it to happen.

“Stay,” Rafael mumbled sleepily.

“What if I offer you coffee and breakfast if we get up?” Bryce tried to bribe him. Rafael gave a sound of protest and dragged Bryce closer so that he could rest his head on his chest.

“Five minutes,” Rafael bargained with his cheek smooshed against Bryce’s collarbone, his eyes still closed. Bryce surrendered by wrapping an arm behind Rafael’s bare shoulders.

“Did I wear you out?” Bryce joked. Rafael gave a tiny nod with a cute affirmative noise and Bryce had to laugh. He carded his fingers through Rafael’s hair and let his eyes close for a little bit longer. “Five minutes.”

Not many people stayed with him the morning after and none had ever stayed like this. Deep down that terrified Bryce, so deep down that it was impossible for him to acknowledge. Instead he stroked his fingers lazily up and down Rafael’s back and smiled at the ceiling as he daydreamed about what this— the two of them— could become.

If only life were so straightforward.


End file.
